The Kansas City Chiefs showed their hand Thursday afternoon by signing free agent punter Matt Arizia.
In signing Arizia, who's talented enough to take over as KC's punter, Pro Bowl and All-Pro pending free agent Tommy Townsend is left on the outside looking in with free agency around the corner.
The Cincinnati Bengals could end up swooping in much like they did last year with another Chiefs Pro Bowler.
The Bengals shocked everyone by landing left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. last March after the Chiefs opted to replace him with Donovan Smith. A similar path could lead one of the best punters in the NFL to a team that desperately needs him in Cincinnati.
Will the Bengals be interested in Tommy Townsend?
The answer should undoubtedly be yes. The Bengals got terrible production out of rookie punter Brad Robbins in 2023, as he grossly underwhelmed relative to how he performed in college.
While Robbins averaged 40.3 net yards per punt with an average hang time of 4.24 seconds, Townsend had a net average of 41.9 with punts that lasted an average 4.44 seconds in the air. Only 32.4% of Townsend's punts were returned in 2023, the fifth-lowest percentage in the league. Robbins was 14th at 38.2%, and combined with a shorter average distance, he was not flipping the field for the Bengals most of the time.
Townsend would win the job from Robbins with ease, and it may not even be a competition if he gets paid accordingly.
As A to Z Sports' Charles Goldman writes, Townsend's up for a new contract and recently hired well-known sports agent Drew Rosenhaus. It's likely that Townsend looks for a larger deal than he's played on the past few years.
"Townsend originally signed a three-year, $2.2M contract with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Florida in 2020. Last season, he signed a one-year deal worth $2.6M on the back of a Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro season. After he signed that contract, Townsend hired Drew Rosenhaus to represent him, a signal that he was seeking a major long-term extension that would pay him atop the NFL's salary range for punters." - A to Z Sports' Charles Goldman
The top of the punter market lies just under $4 million per year, with Michael Dickson holding the highest Average Annual Value of $3,674,765. The 28-year old Townsend will look to eclipse that mark as a former Pro Bowl and All-Pro player from a season ago, and it could be what makes the Bengals uninterested in signing him.
The Bengals only became interested in Brown once he expressed interest in playing for them. His market did not end up being what he had hoped, and he signed for less than expected at $16 million per year.
Should teams dismiss Townsend's target price, the Bengals would be the ideal landing spot for him, much like they were for Brown last year.
Cincinnati needs competition for Robbins this offseason, and Townsend is good enough to skip that process altogether. He'd fit right in with Brown as the Bengals look to topple the Chiefs in 2024.
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